Three people became the first known fatalities on Tuesday of wildfires that have been raging on the Greek islands for a week, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of tough days ahead as the blazes destroyed homes and forced tourist evacuations, APA reports citing Reuters.

Two pilots were killed when their Canadair CL-215 plane fighting wildfires crashed on the island of Evia, east of Athens, the air force said. It gave their ages as 34 and 27.

TV footage showed the plane dropping water over a fire and then crashing into a hillside and bursting into flames.

State broadcaster ERT separately reported that the body of a 41-year-old stockbreeder who had been missing since Sunday was found burned in a shack in a hard-to-reach area on Evia.

Hundreds of firefighters, helped by forces from Turkey and Slovakia, have been battling blazes that have raged on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia since Wednesday and resurged in hot, windy conditions, while emergency planes have been flying out tourists.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency